Oye, TI! Did you ever get around to exploring this level? I would like to hear your thoughts, when time permits.
And, for those reading and not already aware, I have since reversed my decision and returned to Trespasser modding, after-all. I feel a bit bad for committing such a big turn-around, however it was at the time the best course of action and very important... I now see that I didn't have the sight to understand exactly how inseparable certain things from my past are from who I am now, even WITH the plan to maintain a presence at TresCom anyway.
Along with this, I have re-opened work on Drac~Test. It is now an in-progress level; JPDS~testing, my first real test level, was in its day released in multiple successive versions. It now appears that Drac~Test will possess a similar fate, which I appreciate. In part this has some way of bringing the community into the testing process. This level's purpose is not only to test set-ups for other levels but to reveal the engine's capability in-general.
The first new things I did with this level were to use it as an import bed for new models, while training myself back into Trespasser-modding. I made a new concrete debris structure of no particular intended use, placed in the weapon zone, to get started. I think it turned out alright, and helps remind me that non-accuracy asset creation is capable of creating new, useful models in swiftness. After this, I spent time with the Mystery Models, bringing out the Burroughs concrete wall segments and security-wall piece. These all I converted to Trespasser, applying working textures and physics. I brought in the retail IT physics models for the security area and updated them as needed. The buttons don't work but this is no large issue, as the size and position of the Mystery Model variant is inoperable in practical-Tres terms. As well the BIGLIE graffiti is not present and a MM texture was needed to be paletted accordingly. These objects now present Burroughs town-wall assets in Four-Towers-style building-block style, which I find to be quite potentious. As well, they forward the ongoing endeavor of converting all available Mystery Models into functional and imported Trespasser-form.
After a brief break, I pushed ahead with my desire to bring the JR proto CTerrainObj models/textures into Trespasser. These are the ones I discussed and showed via screenshots in my
Tres Re-Exploration thread. After palette-work and a few other details, I brought them successfully inside Drac~Test. I noticed some of the object-ready JR terrain textures were unused by the accompanying Max scenes. The object names range from "TrnObj_JRTableau50-00" to "TrnObj_JRTableau77-00". Different Max scenes, and indeed the retail game, have Tableau01 through 04, but these objects possess textures that ARE early, BUT from a later stage of development (some sort of 'final' step from the early terrain texture phase). As such, there are at least as many as 49 tableau objects unaccounted for, with who knows how many textures.
At any rate, from three Max scenes I imported the proto CTerrainObjs and placed some of them ingame. They are, I believe, QUITE beautiful, despite that they may tile less well or have images which scale incorrectly with the other assets.
- ProtoTrnObjs01.jpg (241.85 KiB) Viewed 8999 times
- ProtoTrnObjs02.jpg (345.22 KiB) Viewed 8999 times
- ProtoTrnObjs03.jpg (748.98 KiB) Viewed 8999 times
...Alas, I realized something a bit doom-ing. I had already plans to bring my future personally-created new foliage and rock assets into Drac~Test as they are made, into the environment testing zone. It follows that my simultaneous progress on new terrain textures, similarly created from local Earth-reality references, should be placed along with them. I -do not- feel like making Drac~Test home to both the proto-Tres CTerrainObjs and my newly created ones... These each belong in separate places, domining entirely over the level(s) they are in. : /
As such, I will soon be removing these JR terrain textures from my test level. I am at least glad to have move forward with bringing them
up the well, so that they have made it into Tres, in some cases perhaps for the first time. As well, I do intend that some future level of mine should include these objects, and so I won't be releasing them yet. I do not in fact have plans to re-create proto Tres foliage assets from pre-release images; I have had such plans in the past, but at this time there is no purpose or creative space for such things. Maybe one day. In the meantime, the terrain awaits.
The first system to be scripted, just today, was the zone camera view selection (which in turn will be used to target the teleporter). It works about 90% - all the triggers do what they're supposed to but it randomly 'stops going' eventually. Going to use an ingame reset button to fix that, hopefully. Here is a video:
